Day of Reckoning
by chapellefan
Summary: FINISHED! As Katara, Sokka, and Toph pick up the pieces after thier battle, Itachi and Kisame report to the rest of the Akatsuki. Including: Leader, Hidan, Kazuku, Deidara, Tobi, Zetsu and Sasori.
1. The Men in Black Robes

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own Naruto or Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Naruto is copyrighted to Viz media and Mashashi Kishimoto

Avatar: The Last Airbender is copyrighted to Nickelodeon Studios and Michael Dante DiMartino as well as Bryan Konietzko

The Lost Book

Chapter 1: The Men in Black Robes

The giant blue skinned man pointed his covered blade at Katara.

"Give us the boy; otherwise I'll grind your bones into mush." Katara knew instinctively that he wasn't kidding. Everything from the black pupils from his so-called eyes, to his black robe with red clouds on it to the very lake that was once the outskirts of Ba Sing Se, she knew she was in for a fight. Just the few seconds that past before didn't make any sense at all.

"_Nice cave, Toph,"_ Sokka tried to say in all seriousness. The Water Tribe warrior tried his best to avoid a sarcastic tone. The cave itself wasn't too bad but inside, Katara slowly pushed and pulled the water out of the hole in Aang's back. Though breathing and a heartbeat were evident, it was slow, labored even.

"_C'mon, Aang. I know you can pull through this."_

"_Don't worry about Twinkle toes" _Toph said while stomping a rock on the ground and lying back on it. She was the only one who didn't keep awake about Aang's condition, or mutter to herself, or worry about it.

"_I hate to say this, but she's right, Katara."_ Sokka lay down a map of the world as he tried to make the best of the situation.

"_Right now, we need a strategy on what to do after Aang wakes up. We could try to take back Ba Sing Se, but organizing a revolution takes time. We could search for Jeong Jeong, but who knows where he could be."_

"_I'm more worried about the wound in his back. I never would've thought that she of all people could take Aang down in the Avatar State. What does that mean anyway? To be taken down in the Avatar State."_

A loud roar and screech immediately came outside.

"_Whatever it is, it'll have to wait._" Sokka pulled out his sharpened boomerang, Toph levitated a rock with her and as much as it pained Katara, she pulled the very water to heal Aang and pulled it back to her pouch. Momo and Appa were only told to make a noise if they were certainly caught. Judging from the noise, they were a lot of Dai Li agents. Never would they have expected two men in Black robes with red clouds.

Each of them stood their ground while the two men seemed relaxed. The Earth King suddenly yelled from the top of Appa,

"_I was just feeding Bosco when these two men asked for the Avatar."_

Both of the men had a different aura, or as Toph would have stated a different vibration. The taller man had a cynical look to him. His black eyes and gills on his cheek make him look like a new breed of shark and human. Behind him, seemed to be a bandaged sword. Katara had seen sheathed swords but never clothed swords. But the smaller man seemed almost…evil. Katara never believed that anyone was truly evil, not even the girl who shot Aang down midair but his crimson eyes, the lines under his eyes and his midnight black hair almost scared her.

"_Give us the boy and we'll be on our way."_ His voice, his presence was deep, baritone even.

"_C'mon, Itachi. Let's have a little fun and grind these kids to pieces."_ The Shark man's voice was naturally taunting, and wanted battle.

"_Quiet, Kisame."_ From the immediate silence, it was evident the smaller of the two was the dominant one. _"Now, give us the boy and no one gets hurt."_

"_We don't know what you're talking about. There's no Avatar here"_ Sokka's voice quivered to show the fear that his body wouldn't dare to show.

"_Oh, we beg to differ. Inside Ba Sing Se, reports show that the Avatar, a 12-year old boy with an arrow on his head was seen flying away from the city on a sky Bison along with the Earth King, his bear, a female Waterbender, her assumed brother and an inept earthbender."_ Toph merely grunted at the end of the sentence.

"_I dunno about you, Itachi, but that water ninja looks suspiciously like a 'waterbender' and that blind kid looks like an 'inept earthbender'."_

"_There is no denying that the Avatar is clearly here. Now, step aside."_

"_And if we don't?"_ Katara didn't even want to think about the consequences of Aang's death. Firebender or not, they weren't touching him. The crimson eyed man merely closed his eyes and opened them. The last thing Katara heard was

"_Tsukuyomi" _


	2. The Blind Spot

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own Naruto or Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Naruto is copyrighted to Viz media and Mashashi Kishimoto

Avatar: The Last Airbender is copyrighted to Nickelodeon Studios and Michael Dante DiMartino as well as Bryan Konietzko

The Lost Book

Chapter 2: The Blind Spot

"Tsu-what?" Was all Sokka could mutter before everything went blank. He looked around to find the grand sculptured buildings of the Northern Water Tribe. It couldn't be possible and yet, here he was shivering. It was nighttime, and the moon shone as fully and brightly as it did when…

"Sokka?" That voice sent chills down his spine. Its innocence and lightness. It wasn't possible; she died. Yet whose voice was this, then? Part of him didn't want to turn yet the other part did so he edged around to find the most beautiful silver haired blue-eyed princess.

"Yue!" Sokka cried as his arms flung to hug her. But almost as quickly as his joy peaked, it fell as he passed right through her. She wasn't part of this world anymore. But as he gazed at her, he didn't see her usual faces: joy, sadness, not even timidity. Yue's soft face became hardened with rage. Contorted, twisted, destructive even her voiced raised into a mixture of her and Aang in the Avatar State.

"You let me die!" Her finger pointed into him as if she was stabbing his heart. "I trusted you and you let me die!"

"No! It wasn't like that!" Sokka's strength left him as he fell to his knees. "I wanted nothing more than to protect you."

"Why didn't you then?" The voice became less Yue and more Avatar.

"I-I couldn't stop you; you wanted to do this."

The Moon became filled with blood. Her blood.

"Then you should have tried harder. Look at me! I'm nothing more than a spirit. I can't eat, sleep or rest. And you did this. Worst of all, I can't even punish you, but I know who can." Sokka could only glimpse in terror as the princess disappeared and behind him a giant fish shaped loomed. He could only scream as he saw the water claw sliced into him.

* * *

"Wait, what's going on? Katara looked around as the darkness was swept away. She looked at the little children running around as Gran-Gran cooked some fresh stewed sea-prunes. _I'm home? But how?_ She looked as she saw someone she hadn't seen in the longest time ever. It was her. 

"Katara, sweetie. Come and help Mom with the clothes." Katara sprinted to her. She jumped over children, spilled the stewed prunes and crunched through the snow. She was almost there, almost about to touch her when her arms were being held.

She struggled to break free only to catch a glimpse of her captor. The man with Crimson eyes. As the children ran home and the warriors were being mowed down by firebenders, she saw as the very same Crimson eyed man holding her, pulled a sharpened metal knife and plunged it into her mother's heart. Both gave a terrible blood-curdled scream.

But it wasn't over. The scene replayed again and again and for every scene more appeared. Katara tried to shut her eyes but the Man tore her eyelids apart as Katara had to see her two moms die…her three moms die…her ten moms die. Some things you get used to with time. Not this. Never this.

* * *

"What's going on?!" Toph cried when Katara came to conscious. She had never been so happier to feel the hot, dry ground of the desert. And as she looked up, the sun shone a bright yellow not the blood filled red. 

"The short guy says something weird and all of a sudden everybody's screaming!" Katara felt her head as she looked at where the two men were and instead found two mountains collided with one another. Toph saved them from a fate worse than death. On the ground she found Sokka panting to catch his breath and the Earth king, in a fetal position sucking his thumb. The animals for some reason looked as if nothing had happened.

"Hello, somebody answer my question here?" Katara gave Toph the biggest hug as Sokka looked for them.

"Where are they?"

"Between the rocks, smart guy. I guess when you've got the world's greatest Earthbender, you can-"

Suddenly a noise uttered from the mountains. Slowly, but surely the two slabs of rock pushed away from each other as the two men appeared, each pushing a rock with ease. Before Toph could clasp her hand together, Sokka grabbed her and told everyone to run to the cave.

"Well, I guess now's a good time for some fun." The smaller man seemed to ignore the Shark man's comment.

"That girl's power can give us trouble. If she continues to be near land, this will take too long."

"Does this mean I can finally use…that jutsu? The Crimson eyed man stayed silent for a long time.

"Make sure you finish this quickly." The Shark man clasped his fingers together as he cried, "_Suiton: Bakusui Shōha_!"

* * *

"Okay, so what your saying is Mr. 'Red Eye' stared at you and you just lost it?" Toph tried to keep her tone as serious as possible. 

"We all saw our deepest fears." Katara didn't need to know Sokka's vision and she certainly wasn't sharing hers. "It was like he knew what caused us pain and made us live it, over and over."

"But why weren't you affected, Toph?" Before the Blind Bandit could utter a response, he beat her to it, "I get it; you're blind!" The whole room stayed silent as the Earth king uttered a small cough.

"Well, duh!"

"No, don't you see? You don't see! That's why he couldn't affect you; we need to be able to look at him so he can cast his illusion." Katara's face lit up.

"That means you can fight him, Toph." Toph gave a small smirk to her 'abilities".

"This changes everything." Sokka's face showed a warrior's expression. "If Toph can take care of Mr. Red-eye then we can take care of the Shark man."

"What about us?" The Earth King gave a toothy grin along with Bosco.

"No offense, your hindness, but I think it's best you stay in the air with Appa." Sokka almost regretted the words as the Earth king frowned.

"Alright, is everybody ready?" Katara put her hand forward. Momo, Sokka, Appa all put theirs forward but Toph hesitated.

"Do you guys hear something?" Katara gave her a long stare.

"Like what?"

"Like a river toward us." Sokka gave a small peak outside to see a giant wave coming towards them.

"It's coming this way! Toph!" She didn't need another word. She spread her legs and pushed her arms upward as the cave, along with a significant amount of land rose along with them.

* * *

Some things were so impossible that no one could make sense of them, not even the Avatar. And yet there they were on top of the sky as water rose towards them."This is crazy" Sokka held his head in terror. "We're in the middle of the desert and the all of a sudden here this water comes out of nowhere." Katara glanced at the rising water. 

"I don't get it either. Toph, how much more can you raise it?"

"Lemme put it this way. If I raise it anymore, we'll fall. I essentially just raised some rock from the ground leaving a big gap underneath." Katara looked as the water was rising still.

"Toph, it looks like you'll have to look after Aang in the cave. Sokka, I'll bend some ice so you and I can fight. Your kingship," The Earth king gave a giant grin again.

"Stay on Appa." He slumped down. "We just don't want you to get hurt." Sokka reassured.

"Wait a moment," The Earth King rubbed his chin. "Why don't we just go under instead of over?"

"And suffocate to death?" Toph crossed her arms. "Yeah, not a good idea."

"Then why don't we just put the Avatar on Appa and fly away?"

"We don't know what these guys are capable of." Sokka held his hand on the boomerang and his battle staff. "If they can somehow hit Appa,"

"Then we'll lose our source of transport." The Earth King looked extremely discouraged. Katara put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, we can handle this. Now get on Appa and start flying. Momo, you're with us, boy."

As the Earth King stumbled up the sky Bison with his bear, Toph put Aang in the far end of the cave while Katara, Momo and Sokka felt the water rising coming to a halt. What shocked them wasn't the fact that they were standing in the middle of the ocean and the tall tower was nothing more than an island or the fact that the two men stood on water but that all the water came from the Shark man's mouth.

"What kind of Waterbending is that?" Sokka screamed.

"I don't know but we better be ready." Katara could've easily grabbed the water from the lake but just held a firm stance. Toph was firmly beside them as Sokka grabbed his boomerang. Momo gave a hiss on Sokka's shoulder and the two men just stood there. The wait was long. Their hearts beat faster and faster, sweat from the midday sun shone on them. Katara started to tap her foot in a rhythmic pattern as Toph seemed to notice it. Time froze. Time resumed. The two men disappeared as they left a trail of splashes going forward.

"Now!" Katara and Toph made symmetrical overhead twirling motions that sent a giant wall of mud between the two men across the water.

"Sokka, this way!" Katara slid on her ice skates and began to approach the Shark man.

"Katara!" Sokka was the only one who could gave a whiney voice in a serious situation. She nearly forgot the ice for Sokka as she gave a quick wave to and a path for him. As the Shark man swung his clothed sword, Katara rushed water on the blade and froze it in midair. She was astounded as the pillar broke and pushed back aside.

"This is going to be fun," The Shark man replied.


	3. The Water Swordsman

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own Naruto or Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Naruto is copyrighted to Viz media and Mashashi Kishimoto

Avatar: The Last Airbender is copyrighted to Nickelodeon Studios and Michael Dante DiMartino as well as Bryan Konietzko

A VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE: Okay, so it's become apparent that I've haven't been receiving reviews except for a few people. (Thanks, Luiz4200 and avatarnarutobleach) so I've decided to do one of two things. I can A) move my story to the Naruto section where it should get more feedback or B) ask you, the readers to review my works. C'mon a simple constructive criticism would be nice. Vote if you want to but if I don't have 10 by the time I upload the next chapter. (cough3dayscough), it's gonna move. So take the time before I move this story.

The Lost Book

Chapter 3: The Water Swordsman

Katara stared down the Shark man. He pointed to them making threats when he could be attacking, but she wasn't listening. All she could do was make sense of the situation and wait for the right moment. She almost didn't here Sokka who was obviously trying to stand still on the ice. Then the Shark man put his clothed sword on his back and began to make odd shapes with his hands: grabbing fingers, pointing fingers and clasped fingers. "Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!"

She didn't even see a stance let alone movement. Then how could have the Water Dragon that could have swallowed her whole formed? She didn't have time to think only respond. She twirled the dragon around her body and flung it back to the Swordsman. He merely raised his blade letting the water disperse into harmless streams. Katara slid to him flinging her arms to conjore up two massive waves, which he dodged with ease.

"Try this!" She raised her arms freezing his feet. As he swung to break the ice on his feet, Katara pulled her arms back and launched several ice shards. He merely snickered as the shards broke against his sword.

"You're pretty good!" He began making the odd gestures again this time too fast to see all of them. Katara could make out hands claping and fingers interlocking but that was about it. "Mizu Bushin no Jutsu!" Suddenly out of the water rose 3 identical clones of the Shark Man as they rushed with their swords. Each made huge swings as she slid backwards. As she stanced to the right, the icy wave struck one of them as it dispersed to water again. _Water. They're just water!_ Katara skated to another one of the men, ducked a slash and moved up to convert it to its natural form. She took the wave and slashed the last replica through the stomach adding more to the water. She finally twirled the liquid around and sent an ice stake to him. He made a downwards slash cutting it in two.

"The fun's just beginnning." He made those odd gestures with his hands once more. "Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu!" A shark just lept out of the water with its mouth wide open. Was it water or the actual thing? She couldn't risk being wrong. Katara rose a wave behind it and froze it, inches from her face. Before she could breathe a sigh of relief, the clothed blade nearly missed a fatal stab. It was Katara's own mistake as the blade intentonally missed and pulled back to cause sharp wounds on her arm. She could only grab it as she felt a warm liquid running down her arm. _Blood._ Katara had been in many fights before, but none with blood. It had been a painful lesson to realize how serious the stakes were. Just then,"Katara! Under you!" She looked down finding more finned beasts underneath. She barely stumbled out of the way as they attempted to nip her feet and splashing water.

"Bet you didn't notice, huh?" His taunting voice could have been compared to a wild hog-monkey. "I used Suikodan no Jutsu to distract you while I used my Goshokuzame to summon my pets. Then, all I had to do was cut you up with my sword. I bet you make good shark bait." She stood in shock to see that some of the cloth had come undone as rows of curved shark fins seemed to nibble away at something. Katara then realized that she just didn't feel a loss of blood but a loss of energy as well. Like the time she fought…Ty Lee.

"Don't just stand there," he dipped the tip of the sword in the water, "Let's fight!" He swung his sword crazily. Katara bended ice wall after ice wall only have it shatter against his blade. Just as about she was to take the offensive, the sharks surfaced trying to grab an ankle or two.

"Face it, you can't take all of us." Just as the sharks were about to resurface, they smelled more blood and rushed away. "Huh? What could be…" The Swordsman felt astonished when he saw boy in the ponytail grab his arm as his red fluid dripped into the water. She saw an opening as did the Sharkman. He swung his sword down only to feel a rush of water behind him and freeze in the middle of his stance. Katara backed away slowly to make sure he was frozen and slid to Sokka. As the sharks were about to rid him of a leg, she froze the sharks in midair.

"Thanks, Little Sister."

"No, thank you. If you hadn't cut your arm, I might have never caught him off guard. Let me heal your-" The Water Swordsman yelled fierecly across the lake as ice fell off him. But it wasn't a yell of frustration. If anything it was a yell of joy.

"Yeah! I've hadn't had this much fun in years." Sokka threw his boomerang as it hit the clothed end of the sword and fell into the deep. "Not my boomerang!"

Katara slid as fast as she never slid before as a giant wave emerged behind her and she rode on it. More and more, the wave picked up as she stood on a tipped edged frozen and watched the wave crash on the Shark man. She bended herself down and saw nobody in the water. She quickly found a shadow at the corner of her eye and stared as he came down from the sun. She raised a torrent of water and froze him midair. _I've got you now._ The man dispersed into a liquid just as he had done before. _A clone!_ He leapt out of the water and started swinging to her torso. She made wave after wave parrying his swings. Then he slashed his blade against the water where Katara could only block with her forearms. Then just as the blade would have cut her in two, the man stumbled as he tried to get the flying lemur out of his face.

"Hey, what, no, get it off!"

"Katara! Over here!" She slid to him, grabbing something behind her back. "Found your boomerang."

"No, listen to me. I've been watching and I hate to say this but…you can't beat him."

"What!" Katara's face looked flustered. "Of course I can; I can beat him if I want!"

"That's not what I meant and look out!" Momo nearly hit them as he slid on the ice.

"Momo!"

"Katara, listen to me. There's only one way we can beat him." He was getting closer and closer still. She could have bended ice but she was frozen at her brother's words.

"We have to stall."


	4. The 4th chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own Naruto or Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Naruto is copyrighted to Viz media and Mashashi Kishimoto

Avatar: The Last Airbender is copyrighted to Nickelodeon Studios and Michael Dante DiMartino as well as Bryan Konietzko

* * *

Okay, so its become INCREASINGLY apparent that people are looking at my story yet not giving reviews. WHY? Why aren't you people reviewing this. Don't you want reviews on _your _works? So here's the deal. If you want more chapter uploads, I need as least 5 well-written reviews (besides the ones from Luiz4200). Just say anything. "This is good because..." "This sucks because..." "This is boring because" Do it and I'll be more than happy to tell you a story. Otherwise, nope, no more.

* * *

The Lost Book

Chapter 4: The Man who sees All and the Girl who sees Nothing

Toph fell down the earth and resurfaced at the mouth of the cave. Water, who needed it? All she needed was good solid earth. Then the man appeared in front of her.

"What'cha looking for Short Stuff?"

"You're nothing but a child. Don't stand in my way otherwise you'll regret it."

"And what're you gonna do about it?" Even the subtlety of closing of his eyes and opening them could appear on Toph's radar.

"Tsukuyomi." He said with death in his voice. For a while both of them just stood there as he stared at her. She cleaned her ears with her pinky and innocently asked, "What'cha looking for, mister?"

"I see." His voice was baritone and deep. Lighter than Long Feng's but deep none the less. "Tsukuyomi does not work on you. In truth I've never tested it on one who couldn't see. But oh well. I have other methods of disposing of you.

"Well bring it on, Shorty, I'll-"Toph felt the air sucked out of her lungs. Her hand began to lunge at her throat. She barely stopped it with her other one but it was getting more and more difficult. _What's going on? Did I just lose control over my body?_ Then she felt a strange sensation around her shoulder. It was as if it was getting bigger and bigger until a head grew out of it.

"My daughter is blind, tiny, helpless and fragile and unable to help them." _Dad?_ Then her other shoulder burst out with another familiar voice.

"You never cared for Appa! You let them take him away!" _Twinkle toes?_ Her own body was working against her as more and more heads burst out of nowhere.

"There's no way you can teach Aang." Katara's voice was shrill and angry.

"You can't keep up with us." Stupid Sokka, Toph wished he could go back to being an idiot.

"I hate you." "Failure" "Inept earthbender" "Little girl" It got so out of control that Toph released her hand and bit it hard. She dug her molars in until the taste of blood oozed into her mouth and all the heads disappeared. She gasped loudly to constantly check her hand to make sure she had control of it.

"So, you dispelled the genjutsu." She looked up at him, not moving an inch since. He did it. He cast the illusion. "Genjutsu attacks not only the eyes but the ears, mouth, touch, and other senses as well." She merely stomped on the ground and punched a rock to her opponent. He didn't even duck it. He just slid to the side as if he Earthbended his feet. She stomped rock after rock and lunged it at him as he dodged it. Then he made a lifting motion with his hand. _He's throwing something._ She kicked the ground making a perfect wall and pushed it to her opponent. The cave walls made small parts of stone fall down as the man just disappeared from it. _It was as wide as the cave. No way could he have dodged it._

"Do you actually believe that you're strong?" He appeared again as he stood as still as ever. Toph could've easily pushed a rock up to where the sun didn't shine but that would be too easy. He would dodge it. She needed to wait. She needed to stall and play along.

"I know how you fight. You use the vibrations on the ground to sense my movement." Toph stood in shock for a while. How could he have known something her best opponents didn't know?

"It's because these eyes are unstoppable. I had to earn these eyes. I strengthen all my senses to such a degree that I can sense a simple sliding of a foot. You, on the other hand," he disappeared. Toph could feel a long row of tapping coming towards her right. She raised her fists up to the air to unleash a mountain to his torso. But nothing. She gasped as the tip of a cool metal knife plunged into the back of her spine.

"Your senses pick up slack for what your eyes are unable to do. This in terms causes your senses to be more aware but in truth they are weakened. Imagine a wall of a dam. Once a crack appears, part of the wall has to cover up that crack. It seems that the wall is stronger but instead the crack grows bigger; its weakness infecting the structure until the dam breaks open and all the water is released." He slid the knife upwards taking it out.

"You are that wall. Your eyes are the crack and I am the water. Senses that make up a weakness are not strength. True strength is from strengthening everything: sight, hearing, heart. If one of these senses falter, you lose." Toph fell to the ground and held her back as she felt blood.

"You have already lost; don't make this more painful than it has to be." She started on her knees and rose up.

"You talk too much, Short Stack!" Her gray eyes were filled with anger. "So what if my senses are picking up slack. I've gotten this far by doing this. I don't run; I endure. I'm the greatest Earthbender because I don't duck and avoid but because I take it all. I will never see like the others do but I will become strong because of it!"

No more waiting; now was the time to strike. She stomped several pointed mountains which he slid back to avoid. She sent the same mountains to him as he ducked and weaved. He raised his hand as another set of footsteps appeared. He created…another of himself. That's impossible. Something can't come from nothing. He pulled out the same knife that cut her back. She bended a perfect wall as the knife merely scratched it. Then she clasped her hands causing the sides of the wall to crash on him. It disappeared, as if it was air. Just then, her feet detected another body behind her.

"Bunshin Daibukuha."


	5. The Warrior of the Water Tribe

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own Naruto or Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Naruto is copyrighted to Viz media and Mashashi Kishimoto

Avatar: The Last Airbender is copyrighted to Nickelodeon Studios and Michael Dante DiMartino as well as Bryan Konietzko

So, apparently, thanks to my post, I've learned some stuff. Most importantly, I've learned that if I hold your chapters hostage; you can post something. So here's the deal. Good reviews good chapters. No reviews no chapters. Bad reviews really bad chapters. So keep up the good reviews or no more stories.

The Lost Book

Chapter 5: The Warrior of the Water Tribe

"What do you mean we have to stall?" Katara's voice almost distracted the Shark Man from his lunge. Katara had to bend wall after wall to stall him. Sokka covered his ears with sounds of broken ice carried around him.

"Listen! Right now, you're just exhausting yourself. This guy's no joke we have to DUCK!" The clothed blade almost decapitated them as the Waterbender sunk the ground underneath the Swordsman and froze it.

"Listen. You once told me that your Waterbending gets stronger at night, right?" Katara shot him an angry look as she held the stance.

"Sokka, in case you haven't noticed, IT'S MIDDAY!"

"Not exactly" Sokka pointed to the sun as it began its slow descent. No longer in the middle, it slanted as the cave cast a slight shadow. "If I can stall until evening, then you'll be able to take him."

"It's not that" The Shark man broke out of his underwater prison and made several clones again. Katara held a deep breath as she reduced the clones to nothing but ice shards and threw them where the Shark man stood back.

"It's not that simple; if it's only a quarter or half-moon my Waterbending increases slightly. It needs to be a full moon if there's going to be any difference."

"Trust me; I know there's going to be a full moon tonight." He looked up to the sky not even noticing the water shooting up from the Swordsman's position. Katara wanted to comfort her brother, but she was far too angry at him.

"Even if you wanted to fight, how could you? You can't swim up to him, and he can manipulate water as quickly as I-"The Water Dragon almost hit Katara as she froze it. "As I can."

"That's why I need you to" Sokka whispered frantically whispered into her ear. She would have slapped him if she was busy trying to fend of the Swordsman.

"Are you crazy? There's no way I can do that."

"Listen, it doesn't have to be that big, just deep enough. If you can do this, I'll have a much better chance at fighting him." She looked incredibly frustrated but sighed and plunged her hands in the water. The Shark man ran up to them as Sokka stood in the way. He blew nothing but silent air into a whistle. The clothed blade hit him like a hammer as its owner picked him up and gave a grin of satisfaction.

"What's that, some kind of kid's toy?"

"Not exactly" Sokka revealed the shape of the whistle: a bison. Almost immediately a giant roar came as Appa charged the man headfirst into the water. Katara's eyes widened.

"I can't do it while Appa's-"

"Just do it! He'll get out of this; I promise." She gave him a hesitant look but continued to bend the water into ice. The ice began to grow deeper and deeper until a loud roar burst out of the water along with the Sky bison which made the yell and bits of blood coming out. On the ice, the Shark man started to swing at him, despite the obvious difference in size. As Appa pushed back, the Earth King and his bear gave cries such as "You can do it!" "Don't let him pass!" and "You're bigger than him!"

However, the Shark Man didn't hesitate to use his sword to keep cutting him. He yelled with glee as the Sky Bison began to stumble back. It turned its back and gave a tail swipe followed by a gust of air which he easily avoided.

"Try this on for size," those odd hand gestures again. "Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!" But nothing happened. All the water had been frozen and had exact replicas of the pony-tailed boy scattered all around with him shrugging his shoulders, making goofy faces and hiding like a coward.

"Katara, leave now! I'll take care of this Waterbender."

"Trust me; he's no Waterbender." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and slid to Appa.

"Yip Yip!" She looked back at her brother as he took out his boomerang and battle staff.

"Hey, why don't you invite the animal to play? I was having so much fun."

"Trust me; I can take you all by myself." He charged head first as he threw his boomerang and raised his staff with both his arms. The Swordsman laughed as he blocked the boomerang with his weapon and smacked Sokka to the side. He slid on the ice, grabbing his boomerang on the way.

"You think I'm an idiot? This blade can cut ANYTHING!" He plunged the sword into the ice as it made several large and growing cracks. But nothing. There was no water to be found.

"Ha! Turns out I'm smarter than you." The pony-tailed warrior gave a mental pat on the back to himself. "I froze the ice so deep that you can't make any water attacks."

"Excuse me." The voice came from above as a flustered Katara glared at him.

"_You _froze the water? I'm the one who did all the work." Even on a Sky Bison, she had to defend herself.

"Geez, Katara! Do you have to have to kill all the dramatic tension?" Sokka yelled a cry as loud as she did. The Water Swordsman had other plans. He made hand signs as he shouted, "Suiton: Bakusui Shōha!" He then spat a large amount of water at Sokka as he yelled, "Hey. No spitting!"

"Oh, don't worry. This won't take long. Mizu Bushin no Jutsu!" There 3 other Shark men stood above him with a wicked smile on their face. The pony-tailed warrior's eyes widened if only for a second. He took a deep breath and charged with both weapons. As he made large swipes, easily dodged, the Shark men swatted him side to side like they did with a hammer a nail. Each blow caused Sokka to lose a healthy amount of blood. There one grabbed him by the arms as the other three gave stomps, punches and swipes with the sword. Then surprisingly, he got loose and caught his breath. But just as he was about to charge, the clothed sword came and knocked him into the air.

"Sokka!" Katara couldn't stand still. She concentrated all her might to make soft snow for him to land on. _Yes! Yes! He's going to make it._ Until one of the men came and stuck the clothed blade out. Sokka landed on the blade with his back arched over it. He covered his mouth with the back oh his hand to avoid coughing up blood. _So this is what it feels like. To bleed._

"Don't tell me this is your first time in a real battle?" The Shark man gave that stupid toothy grin. A mixture of contempt, jester and belittlement angered Sokka further. He reached back on his bag to find something useful. He felt several things: an egg, possibly from the Northern Air Temple, some rope, the bison whistle and something thick, gelatinous. _Blasting Jelly! _Sokka immediately contemplated plans in order to use this. If he could get close enough to blast him, he could blow the Shark man away. But first, he needed to get off the sword. He used the sharpened edge of his boomerang and cut a scar in his face.

"Sorry, Kid. But I'm just a-"It sunk into the cracks of the ice. Water, again. Sokka looked at a moment too good to be true. As the others stood still, he swung his boomerang at one of them which dispersed into water. There he slid on his belly and between another one of his legs. He jumped and smashed the blunt part of his staff on its head as he caught his boomerang. Both had dispersed into water. The Shark man still had a toothy grin.

"I'll cut you until there's nothing left." But almost immediately he dropped his sword as it slid on the ground. "Whoops."

"Sokka! He dropped his sword. Now's your chance!" Katara could only watch in horror on the Sky Bison as her brother slid for the blade. The Shark man and he both obviously wanted it but the pony-tailed warrior beat him by an inch. The Earth king and his pet bear cheered as Sokka attempted to lift it. He could barely lift it off the ground with his two hands. As he staggered forward, sharp spikes stabbed his hands as he let go and the sword belonged rightfully to his owner.

"Not bad, kid. Too bad Samehada only responds to me. Anyone else gets- well you know." He let the tip of the blade touch the ground. "Now, I'm bored. Let's get this over with." He dragged his blade on the ice and spun around as sharp fins stabbed Sokka. Another spin continually stabbed his leg. And finally a quick thrust with a painfully slow pull back continued to stab him over and over as if a thousand knives stung his back. But it wasn't done yet. The Shark Man grabbed the pony-tailed warrior's face and threw against several of his icy reflections, hitting 5 until he stumbled into a bloody mess.

"Sokka!" Katara wanted to jump down if the Earth King and his bear weren't holding her. Appa wanted to fly higher as she struggled.

"Let me go! He needs my help."

"No listen to me! You two have a plan and need to formulate it."

"Do you expect me to let my brother die?" Her eyes were filled with salty tears.

"I expect that you respect the agreement you formed." She let her arms down and saw him lay on the ground, his blackened blood sinking into the cracks. He lay on the ground catching his breath. He lacked blood as well as energy. He never fought this hard but he couldn't even stand.

"That wasn't any fun at all. Oh well what should I expect from a non-warrior like you." Sokka's face lit up. He got on his belly and began to stumble up with his whole body shaking. "Wha-What did you say?" The Shark man didn't give a second glance.

"I'm just saying, what's the point of you fighting? No Justus, no Kekkei genkai, no nothing. Face it; people like you aren't worth cutting."

"Shut up." Sokka's face grew to anger as he held his arms.

"Or what? Are you going to faint? People like you don't deserve to be called Ninja or warriors or whatever you call people the opposite of you. I can easily tell you're the weakest member. At least that idiot in the green garb has a bear. But you-you've got"

"That's enough!" Sokka's face stood with rage as he no longer held his arm and his whole body shook with anger, not pain. _Katara, Toph, Aang, Dad._ "I won't let you insult my status as a warrior. I may not be a _bender_, but I can still fight darn it! I won't let you make me any less than my friends and I won't let you insult my tribe. There are benders and non-benders all alike and I'm one of them. But most of all, you don't insult my father. He's one of the bravest men I've ever met and I'm proud to be his son. I'm Sokka of the Water Tribe. And I'm a warrior!"

Never have such words burned through him. He no longer felt blood, just sweat. He no longer felt pain, or if he did it was trivial. This was no longer concerning his friend but his place in the world, a warrior of all things. His chest grew and shrunk, grew and shrunk…

Hakoda had just started to full the mines with explosive powder as his oldest child had complained about his sister.

"It's always Katara this, Katara that, Katara, Katara, Katara. Just because I'm not a waterbender doesn't mean I don't deserve respect!" Hakoda smiled briefly. His green son still didn't understand how big the world was and how small his affairs were to the big picture, to the war. But that was beside the point.

"Sokka, come here." The pony-tailed boy blinked in disbelief before actually coming.

"Here, hold this" Sokka held on to the mine as Hakoda put explosive powder in it and drew a neat row with X's and a few circles around it.

"Sokka, let me tell you the time when Firebenders nearly took the Southern Tribe. See the Fire nation had us outnumbered 4 to 1. On top of that they had technological advancements such as ships. But did they reach the Southern Tribe?" Sokka blinked for a moment.

"Sokka, if they had reached the Southern Tribe, we wouldn't be here having his discussion would we?" The young boy gave a quick 'oh' and shook his head.

"Let me tell you why. Because we had this." Hakoda pointed to his forehead.

"Really neat hair styles?" Sokka couldn't help but give an aura of innocence.

"Well, that too but something else. Intelligence. See all the Firebenders were doing were going in a straight line." He drew arrows for the X's in one direction.

"So we set traps, flanked them got behind them and even got on their ships." He had drawn several arrows the O's had surrounded the X's.

"Now, strength is one thing but where is strength without intelligence. And that's what you are. You fight with your brain. And that's what makes you special."

"So what you're saying is…" Sokka's face lit up with joy, "I'm smarter than Katara!" Hakoda gave a small sweat.

"No, actually-" He small boy stood up and leaped.

"I'm smarter than Katara, I'm smarter than Katara!" By the time Hakoda had stood up, Sokka was half way home. _He'll get it one day._

Sokka bent down and laced his boots. He began muttering in a low, whispering voice.

"I know this is sudden…" More whispering "But I need your help." The Shark man tried to listen in on the conversation but to no avail.

"What's the matter, you praying? I've got a comrade just like you, except his god actually likes death. Let's see how you like _this_!" He held the clothed sword high and swung it low. The pony-tailed warrior slid back as he tied a rope to his boomerang and threw it while sliding back. The boomerang slid between the Water Swordsman's legs and wrapped around a statue of Sokka. Then, the pony-tailed warrior circled around another of his statues tying the rope around it and another statue.

"Don't think I'm stupid. I see through your plan and I'll-"

"Now, Momo!" The flying lemur still damaged with its last scuffle had once again flown to the Shark man's face. He struggled as it scratched and bit his blue hair. He wasn't praying; he was talking to the lemur! However, soon his triangular teeth bit into its tail and threw him aside with a sharp turn of his head. Then he had seen his body tied up, tight around all the statues surrounding him. But there was something else. The watery rope felt thick with something. He then eyed the boy giving a sharp grin as he lit one of the ropes with a makeshift torch. The fire grew and grew than it should have with any rope. The rope was thick with an explosive liquid. Just as his massive strength broke free of the binds, the air was filled with a booming noise. Sokka looked earnestly as he saw the figure still remain as he coughed up air.

Sokka gave a battle cry as he leapt at him. He grabbed his battle staff and lodged the pointed end into the Shark man's eye. The Water Swordsman cried in pain as he noticed that the boy threw a vomit like liquid, no, jelly at him and tied the cloth of his blade to his hand. Then he took out his battle staff and lit a spark against the finned blade. The cloth caught on fire, the boy leaped as the jelly covering him exploded. Another hacking cough of black soot revealed not even the man's clothes took damage, let alone him.

"I hope that wasn't your best attack because if it was-"

"I think you should look around you." The Shark man decided to play along, making a shocking discovery. The cracks he had made from his last battle were filled with a thick yellow-

"You, you tricked me!" He had just started making sense of the whole mess. He used the rope to think he was being trapped and sent the lemur. While the lemur was covering his face, he used the jelly on not only the rope but in the cracks as well. Then, he charged him as he poked the eye not to get close enough to ignite the jelly."

"Bye, Bye Mr. Sharky." Sokka tossed the torch on the crack as the circle exploded around the Water Swordsman. He fell as the ice shards fell on him.

"Way to go, Sokka!" Katara cried as the Earth King and his bear cheered along with him. Just as Appa was about to land, Sokka raised his hand and shook his head. The battle wasn't won. As his sister looked at him from above, she nodded as Appa went higher.

The Water Swordsman yelled in fury as he dug up from the surface.

"Stupid Brat! You should have killed me when you had the chance! Now I've built up enough chakra to kill you." He looked around. Just still statues of him. He looked up at the sky. The bright sun nearly dug into his eyes so he looked away. He saw that the cave's shadow had grown but not by much. He still could fight in the sun.

As the Shark Man smashed statue after statue, he saw a figure run in the distance. He ran over the ice as another figure ran behind him. He went over to where he saw it but to no avail. Then another figure ran just in front of him, crawling on all fours. He swung his sword on the ground to make the figure stumble. Then he stomped to his opponent and grabbed him by the neck.

"Sorry," the Earth King replied. "You've got the wrong person." His bear lunged at him. It growled and tackled the Water Swordsman only to be thrown back to a statue. Just as the finned blade could cut the bear its owner received a rightful smack on the head as he stumbled back and saw a sharpened boomerang. He looked back and saw the pony-tailed warrior stood his ground, still bleeding. Just before he could move, the Blue-haired Nightmare smashed him against a statue. The boy with the last ounce of his strength smile and said, "Nice to see you again."

"Gee, it's nice to see you too." The man raised his blade.

"I wasn't talking to you." Sokka pointed at the sky. There the moon had shown with a mock sun. The Swordsman looked around. Several of the statues and made a singular light, showing the 'sun' and there was a small fire on the shadow of the cave to make it smaller. It was actually night time.

"Day, Night. What difference does it make?"

"EVERYTHING" Katara yelled as she bended. Inch after inch, the ice cracked as it all grew into a massive tsunami wave.


	6. Last Resort

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own Naruto or Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Naruto is copyrighted to Viz media and Mashashi Kishimoto

Avatar: The Last Airbender is copyrighted to Nickelodeon Studios and Michael Dante DiMartino as well as Bryan Konietzko

5 well written reviews or else I'm not posting the next chapter! Enjoy!

The Lost Book

Chapter 6: Last Resort

Toph wobbled on her feet as echoes of her panting echoed the cave. On the ground she sensed that knives and stars had littered the ground. But that wasn't the worst situation. She remembered back to when Short Stack explained it.

"_Bunshin Daibukuha._" Toph could've sworn her back had blasted apart rather than a human person. Rather than feeling a scorching blast however, she felt piercing pain as she blasted to the ceiling and landed back to the cold ground.

"_Hmm_." The man simply stepped over her to the Bald headed monk.

"_H-hey_." Her voice was labored; her hair had become messy and parted as she stood up over her puddle of blood. "_Don't think I'm done with you, Shorty_." She stomped the floor without warning as a decent chunk flew right for his head. He naturally dodged it as the girl vanished. He looked behind him to see that the girl and sunk underneath and popped right out. She caught her own rock and threw back to his head. Naturally, he avoided it and stared at her once again. She slid her foot slightly. _Darn it. The cave's running out of rock. If it gets too thin, the whole defense is shattered. I'm the only way in but if the walls of the cave fall, he can just break through. And if I use the ground_-

"_You've lost_." Toph broke out of her train of thought.

"_From the moment my partner cast his Jutsu, "Bakusui __Shōha." You were forced to either rise above the ground or suffocate in the earth below. Above here, you cannot manipulate rock below the water. There you must take earth from the cave or the ground itself. The more you use it, the more the damage cannot be repaired. You have lost. Step aside._" Toph wanted to make another comeback, but she couldn't on account of one thing. He was right; he was absolutely right. The rocks were running out and if she kept throwing them the cave would sink. But she wouldn't let him have the satisfaction.

"_Don't think little old me is just going to give up._"

"_Of course, why do you think I made so many shadow clones?_" Toph felt behind her to see several of him running toward Twinkle Toes. She launched them all to the roof before they dispersed.

"_Hah!_" Before she could utter sounds of celebration, her airway tightened from the man's hand as he pounded her on the wall, kneeing her, elbowing her as she struggled for air. _He's right. Getting all those rocks from the ground makes empty spaces, and if I keep doing this, the cave will collapse on itself._ She smashed the wall behind her to cause a swarm of rocks to fall on him. Tears flowed down her face as it dispersed just like air again. _We'll all sink!_ Then something happened, the ground became shifty as her footing felt loose. She reached for the ground only to have it slide between her fingers. Sand. She couldn't see anything but fuzziness. She struggled to find her way out. It felt so long.

Toph kept walking as the sun beat against her skull. Her mouth dried; her throat sore. She would've drank anything, swamp water, cactus juice anything. But all she could do was keep walking.

Days spanned and yet the sun still beamed. She didn't feel any loss of heat, yet how could it have been so long. _What was I doing? Oh yeah, water._ She kept walking until she stopped. _No, wait. Not water. Twinkle toes needs me. Ground. Got to make it into rock._ She plunged her hand in the sand. As she shifted it, nothing but flowing rocks. She tried again. She felt it! Friction. She dug both of her hands and the ground became solid.

She gasped for air once again as she felt the sweet cold air hitting her face and her mouth full of spit. She laughed a little only to find the man standing absolutely still for the past few moments.

"How? How were you able to break the genjutsu and defend your friend at the same time?" Toph felt the ground beneath her to find that there was a thick wall just before Twinkle Toes. _Did he-?_

"Do not be mistaken. If I didn't have orders to keep him from harm, I would have taken him by now. My partner, on the other hand, is using unnessary force and delaying our capture. Luckily, I was able to build up my chakra to such an extent-"Toph stomped the ground, sending a piece of rubble to his chin only to disperse again. "That I can create numerous shadow clones as I attack."

Metal stars and knives hit the ground at such a fast pace that she could barely form a wall from all sides.

"Suiton: Suigadan." She heard the rushing water as it broke the cave sides and drilled through her wall and she sunk down and popped out of the ground. _He just threw those stars to distract me!_ Then the air got hotter and hotter. Firebending. She reached out and pulled all the rocks together to form a wall. The fireball hit as rocks went flying behind her. Again and again, until she realized that the wall behind her was no more. She stomped the ground sending pillars to him as the cave wobbled a little. She was running out of earth. Then all the man disappeared into the air as she felt his metal knife on Twinkle Toe's neck.

"You've lost. If you attack, I will slit his throat. I can afford to lose him, but you can't." She felt every part of her body chill though her face didn't. The world needed him and if she attacked. But if she didn't attack, he would win. She took a deep breath, and listened. Listened to the ground, with gaps all around. Listen to the water crashing outside. And listened to the steady beating of her heart.

She smirked as she tossed the rock the size of his head. He dodged it with ease as he went and lunged the knife into his own hand. With this distraction, she made a strong pulling motion as the monk was beside her again.

"What kind of knife is that? The rock inside was so big, I couldn't help but bend it." She pushed Twinkle toes into the ground and covered it. He could breath in there, and she could survive.

"Very well." His voice ridden with comtempt as he ripped the knife out without a single flince. "You have forced my hand. My eyes…" He had closed them again. "are capable of many things. Such as" Toph felt that chill down her spine as she bended a huge wall between them. Cold flames consumed her as she fell back, her body scorched. "Amaterasu"


	7. High Tide

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own Naruto or Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Naruto is copyrighted to Viz media and Mashashi Kishimoto

Avatar: The Last Airbender is copyrighted to Nickelodeon Studios and Michael Dante DiMartino as well as Bryan Konietzko

Sigh I though about it for a long time and decided that reviews aren't as important as telling stories. Who am I to deny stories because a lack of reviews. But please note any reviews would be nice. Meanwhile, here's Kisame vs. Katara.

The Lost Book

Chapter 7: High Tide

The wave crashed against the Shark man, as he disappeared amongst the foam. There a large body of water rose where a Sky Bison waited impatiently. The Earth King, his bear and Momo left the body of water as Katara set her brother gently down. Stubborn Idiot. If only she could heal his wounds, but NO. He needed to 'keep the illusion he was still fighting alone'. Moron. She started to heal his wounds but the Earth King shook his head.

"The window of opportunity is short. You must take advantage of it." She nodded, looked at her brother and bended the water down to the ground.

"Well, well, little girl." Katara's eyes shook with fury. The Water Swordsman's voice was no longer that like a wild hog monkey. No, that name was too good for him. He was dirt, an animal not worthy of name calling. He just gave that sneering look that she despised all her time up on Appa. "Looks like I get to have more fun with you. Hopefully, you're better at fighting than your broth-"She slid her hands up causing a geyser to appear below him. As soon as the water spout fell down, she shook her hands and yelled, "I know that was just water like before! Come out you coward!"

The finned blade stopped inches before her shoulder but Katara didn't budge.

"Looks like you get stronger in the moonlight." His breath smelt of rotten fish as she listened to him behind her. "Then I can finally," He raised his blade as she slid away and blocked it with an ice pillar. "Cut loose!"

The pillar shattered in a thousand shards as the Shark man made hand signs in showing nothing but blurs. He had been holding back.

"Mizu Bushin no Jutsu!" An army of clones had appeared in front of her as she held her stance. To those who rushed with their swords, she simply parried off their attacks with waves and struck a stance, dispersing them into water. She looked behind her to hear a flurry of voices. " Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!" " Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu!" " Suiton: Goshokuzame!"

All the water seemed to turn against her. Water Sharks, the size of Fire Nation tanks, rained upon her as she bended them away. The 3 Massive Water Dragons charged at her. She tore her arms to make one head crash into another as she froze the 3rd Dragon and slid on it. Finally, as she slid, she rose and raised the water until all the sharks were sent back to their owners. She melted the ice and stood on her ice skates. Something was wrong. It was too quiet. Katara gasped a little as she saw a figure behind her in the reflected in the water. She jumped back only to have her arm caught in the Sword's many teeth. She tore it off losing a good amount of blood.

"All that and you can only get one hit?" She wasn't about to show fear that easily.

"Heh. A mere scratch from Samehada can eat away at your chakra. I've got enough power to keep you on your feet AND beat you." She let both of her arms drop as a large body of water covered her like armor and shone a bright blue. Almost instantly, the cuts on her arm faded away.

"You can HEAL?" For the first time, the Shark man's voice gave a tone of shock.

"That's not all I can do." She raised her water-filled palms to capture his arm carrying the sword and leg. He struggled as the water seemed to grow on him. Katara raised him off the ground about to bring him down when a hand reached out for her and water trapped her in some sort of bubble. She held her breath for air as the clone grabbed her neck. The original landed on the water with barely a scratch.

"Not bad, kid." He shook his blade dry as he walked ever so slowly to her. "I never thought that you can mix Suiton jutsu with medical ninjutsu, but unfortunately, you missed one clone. And with you trapped in Suirō no Jutsu, I can cut you up good."

The clone's neck began to tighten and tighten his grip as Katara struggled for air. Slowly, the blade rose up and slashed down to slice Katara's body.

The Shark man never would have expected to have thousands of ice shards coming down from all directions. Katara gasped for air as she slid back on her ice skates. If she hadn't turned the bubble into ice just now, she would've died. But now was the time to strike.

She pulled and pushed two torrents to him. The Water Swordsman dodged them easily only to find them circling around him like and closing in on him. He stuck his blade down a side to divert the water. There a 3rd torrent came after him. He grinned as he raised his sword only to be blown away by it. He shook off the ice around him. The girl made the tip of the torrent ice so the hard part would knock him while the water did the rest.

But Katara wasn't done yet. She made a paddling motion with her arms to create thin slices of water that came after him. The Shark man dodged all of them except one that cut his cheek. But the girl raised the water above his feet and froze the lower half of his body. From all directions, water forming into ice would've hit him. He started making hand signs only to have all the ice crash on him in the middle of it. Katara had done it. She struck a blow when he tried to defend himself but he failed. Katara had-

"Don't get too cocky, little girl." She looked in disbelief as all the ice fell down. He had just finished making his hand signs. "Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" He wasn't trying to defend himself, Katara realized. He was attacking.

She looked behind her to find a huge torrent of water, bigger than any she had ever made, ever seen as it grew bigger and bigger towards her. She couldn't dodge it; she would only get caught in a drilling wave of certain death. Misdirecting it would also mean the same thing. She simply stood still and let out an icy breath of air as the torrent of wave became a giant stationary drill.

She would've patted herself on the back if the Shark man had not grabbed her by the skull and pounded her into the ice. As the banging and banging continued, blood began to flow from her skull. She stopped his attack by launching at wave, driving him back.

"Look at you," the Water Swordsman wasn't the least bit tired. "Getting worked up for nothing."

"Nothing?" Katara's eyes filled with blood. She pulled her arms back and launched a giant wave at him. "You threaten my friend." She launched another wave pushing him back. "You hurt my brother!" She finally twirled around to launch water under his feet. "And you think that's nothing? I…will…sink…you!" She raised her hands only to form her own Water Dragon.

She bended the Dragon all around at high speed. The Water Swordsman dodged and weaved as it sunk and reappeared throughout the lake. He could barely hang on as the water became unsteady, shaky. He jumped in mid air only to find that the Dragon and caught him and began drilling him into the ice drill. The Dragon started pouring more and more water on him until the ice behind him began to crack.

Just as he was about to escape, the Dragon began to freeze over him and the ground beneath him. Katara shook her arms steady as the water all around him froze. She would pay him back for all the pain he and his partner caused all of them. She lifted her arms as ice shards flew into the air propelled by a giant body of water. The Shark man felt stings of ice and water surround him as he landed back on the water, rain pouring over him. He rose back up, regardless of how cut up he was and looked at her.

"Stupid girl! You think you can beat me with-"He stopped in mid sentence. She hadn't put her arms down. The Water Swordsman looked up only to find several ice spears pierce his body.

Katara gave a giant sigh as she sat on the ice she had bended. She never in her life though she could kill someone. But if anyone had deserved it, it was him.

Then, the Shark man rose with all the ice spears imbedded in him and pulled them all out, one by one. He gave a low bellowing sound. A cackle.

"Yes! Good. Now this is a battle, I'll never forget. Let's finish this."

"Gladly." Katara said.


	8. The Truth

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own Naruto or Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Naruto is copyrighted to Viz media and Mashashi Kishimoto

Avatar: The Last Airbender is copyrighted to Nickelodeon Studios and Michael Dante DiMartino as well as Bryan Konietzko

* * *

So I might as well upload this seeing as Bryan and Michael will show the new season tomorrow. (Can I get a Yeah?) So anyways, you know the drill. Here's the story, reviews are greatly apprieciated and enjoy

* * *

The Lost Book

Chapter 8: The Truth

Toph wanted to die. The cold flames that had licked her just kept eating away at her flesh, more and more. The only thing that cooled her down was her blood flowing out of her. It was getting dark. Darker. She couldn't feel her own body yet could feel his footsteps closer and closer.

"I've wasted my time with you." He grabbed the Twinkle Toes and pulled him out of the ground. "You could have never hoped to have surpassed me, and now you will die. The only thing I regret," Toph wanted to stand; she wanted to rip his voice out so she could die in peace, "is using unnessary force."

"_Don't stand in my way otherwise you'll regret it."_

"_Don't make this more painful than it has to be."_

"_You were forced to either rise above the ground or suffocate in the earth below. Above here, you cannot manipulate rock below the water."_

"_Step aside._"

"_Why do you think I made so many shadow clones?_"

"_You have forced my hand__"_

_He avoids. He wanted to avoid conflict. Like an…_

Toph uttered a sound. Then her whole body began to shake. What at first thought to be a wail was a giggle, then a chuckle then a full blown bellow. She laughed. She laughed so hard that it hurt.

"I get it now." She said with the smallest voice. "You're an airbender."

"What?" He asked with his eyes glaring.

"You don't endure; you just dodge and avoid. You didn't want to fight me on the ground, so you avoided it. You didn't want to take any of my attacks, so you avoid them. And most importantly of all, you wanted to avoid this fight."

"You should save your breath." He raised his finger and pointed it at her,"You're going to need it."

Even as he turned into a swarm of fluttering feathers, Toph still laughed. She slowly put her hand on the ground. The roof of the cave began to pour chunks of rock as the entire island shook.

"There's one thing I know about airbenders." Her voice was soft and about to faint, but her spirit couldn't be diminished. "When you avoid pain, it's likely to hit you the hardest." The island shook even harder as the feathers dispersed as she felt him let go of Aang to blow fire to a falling rock.

_Please, Twinkle Toes. I know you're like me. _She put her palm flat on the floor. _That's why I know you'll survive this. We're earthbenders._ She felt the man about to rip her hand off. _We…_She took a deep breath.

* * *

Katara parried blow after blow from the Shark Man's blade. Her flesh sprouted several wounds she tried to heal as he kept swinging his blade.

"Don't think I done yet. This is a fight I'm gonna remember for a long time." Katara bended several icy torrents surrounding him like a forest which he cut through easily. Then Katara nearly fell over as the water lowered a little.

"Well, looks like the plan worked perfectly after all." The Shark Man pointed to what used to be an island to find nothing but water.

"TOPH! AANG!" Katara screamed before the finned blade dug into her body. More and more blood was being lost. She covered her body in water as she tried to heal the wounds but the Water Swordsman swung away.

"I'm not gonna let you heal again. C'mon."

* * *

Toph opened her eyes only to close them again. She felt wet, all around her. She realized that she and Twinkle Toes were both submerged in the lake. She needed to act quickly. First she found Twinkle Toes and fortunately, not Short Stack.

She grabbed him by the arms and swam down until she felt a muddy substance that was earth. She hated mud, she hated not feeling anything and most of all, she hated water. Toph bended down on the earth as they both dived. Her lungs began to burst, but she needed to dig deep. Then when she dug as deep as she could, she dug sideways and finally up to an air pocket.

She gasped for air for several seconds before punching Twinkle Toes in the shoulder to remind him to breathe. He breathed slowly but surely. Finally Toph swan down and bended two walls to keep him in the air pocket. Now was the hard part. Toph pushed her small arms as much as she could until she got to the original cave again. Then she stanced her legs with great difficulty as she tried to avoid floating. Then she imagined one giant circle. She imagined an even bigger circle around that one and and to push down hard. She decided to bend deep rather than large as she pushed _hard_.

* * *

Katara was losing consiousness. She stumbled back on her ice skates as she tried to close up the wounds opening from all sides. But he wouldn't let her. Like he wouldn't show mercy to Sokka. She breathed deep warm breaths that shone in the moonlight.

"Hey, Little Girl. You know, I enjoyed this fight." The Water Swordsman held his blood soaked arm. "It's too bad that," He flicked his hand to splatter blood all over her face and in her eyes, closing them. "That you DIE!" His footsteps made large splashes in the water as suddenly the entire lake shook. The Shark man looked behind him as Katara wiped his blood from her eyes.

A giant whirlpool came from the center of the battle as it began to suck all the water from the surface. _Toph._ Now was her chance. She stood her ground and raised her hands up and down and twirled a giant wave that instantly froze the Shark Man on contact as he sunk into the hole. Katara breathed a sigh of relief only to realize she was being pulled in too. Frantically, she skated and skated as she tried to get away from the growing hole in the middle of the lake. She was about to sink into the dark abyss when, "Get on!"

Katara eyed Appa lowering down as The Earth King and his bear grabbed her and pulled her up to safety. Not even hesitating, she bended the water from her pouch to her brother, wrapped with torn cloth from Bosco.

"How has he managed to survive this long?" He should have gone by now, but luckliy fate defied logic.

"He kept muttering something about the moon." The suddenly, his voice let out a gentle voice.

"You look very pretty tonight."

"Sokka?"

"I sorry, I didn't know it was you. That was never you. You could never hate me……….." Slowly, Appa made his way down to the bottom, where the lake nearly dried to find two familiar faces. Toph lay on the ground as Katara and The Earth King picked both of them up. Toph's wounds were by far the worst.

"Never…Thought…I'd….be…glad…to…see…you." She fell unconcious immediately. Katara breathed as she bended water to all of them. It was a long day.

* * *

"I can't believe I let that Short Stack make me like this," Toph, reduced to wearing bandages around her arms, sulked.

"Hey, at least you didn't get beat up by some Fish Guy." Sokka had a splint for his arm. The desert of Ba Sing Se reappeared as the water was soon soaked up into the ground. The Earth King and Bosco help Katara back to caring for Aang. Appa and Momo kept watched as the sun began to appear. She sighed a breath of relief.

"I can't believe that-"

"You won?" Her heart stood still. _No._ "You didn't" There without a single drop of water on them stood the Crimson eyed man and the Water Swordsman.

"Hahaha! Itachi, looks like we can play some more." But the Crimson eyed man wasn't paying attention as his eyes gazed at the morning sun.

"Kisame! The portal!" The Shark man looked surprized.

"But he's right there. We can-"

"There's no time." He made odd gestures with his hands as thousands upon thousands of carbon copies stood before them. "Bunshin Daibukuha." Toph quickly planted her palms into the ground as a huge wall collapsed before them. Rock after rock was deflected until, a second later, it stopped. Toph bended the wall down. There lay no signs of footsteps, no signs of life, as if the battle never happened at all.

"Did we…win?" Katara still had a shroud of a doubt in her.

"If they won, they forfeit." Sokka tried his best not to move his arm.

"That's as good a victory as it is to me!" Toph stomped the ground in celebration.

"Still. Who were they? Why did they want Aang? And what's this portal they talked about?"

"Maybe we'll never know.

* * *

The portal closed behind Itachi and Kisame as they emerged in the dark, dripping cave of the Akatsuki.

"You're late," Said an all too familiar voice.


	9. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own Naruto or Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Naruto is copyrighted to Viz media and Mashashi Kishimoto

Avatar: The Last Airbender is copyrighted to Nickelodeon Studios and Michael Dante DiMartino as well as Bryan Konietzko

The Lost Book

Final Chapter: Epilogue

A few notes before we start. First, I want to thank all the reviewers who took the time to review, especially Luiz4200. You guys were my burning fuel of passion. 2nd of all, I will have other priorities, such as education, so I won't be writing big fanfiction for a long time. I'll try to get an oneshot in or two. Okay, finally an important note about HIDAN. See, if you're not familiar with the Akatsuki (which you should since you are reading this fanfic.) Hidan swears a lot. The real problem is that I kind of have this thing against cussing, so I'm going to censor his language. If you have a problem with this, tell me so I can write Hidan out. I've grown a lot but I'm still not used to cussing, so bear with me. Well, here we fing go.

* * *

"So, now what?" Toph laid on her back as the sun beat on her head. "We beat those guys, but we still haven't won against the Fire Nation."

"That's right," Sokka paced around outside, "We never did formulate a plan."

Katara bended the water in and out of Aang when she stopped. "Guys! Come look at this!"

Everybody rushed to see what had happened. Everyone looked in shock as Aang…had a small patch of seemingly brown hair.

"Is that-"Toph put her hand on his head to make sure.

"It is!" Sokka's jaw wouldn't lower.

"Well, look at it this way," The Earth King smile. "At least the Fire Nation will have trouble recognizing him." Sokka's eyes lit up.

"That's it!"

"Don't do that!" Toph yelled while stomping a cliff just below his chest.

"Hey! I'm sorry but what I have in mind is a brilliant plan. What's the best way to hide from the enemy?" Everyone stood in silence.

"By pretending to be one of them." Katara rubbed her chin.

"You know, I think he's on to something." There the plan was discussed and set into motion.

* * *

"You're late," said an all too familiar voice.

"Pardon us, Leader." There on the many fingers stood the remaining members of the Akatsuki, or at least, the images of them. Only Zetsu could appear in meetings in a full physical state.

"OH! Oh! What happened? Please tell us what happened." Tobi, who wore a bright orange mask, jumped up and down in front of the holocron.

"Quiet, Tobi!" The leader's dark image and scrambled voice shook Tobi into reality. "You will respect your older officers with decency. Itachi, Kisame, where is the Avatar?"

"Yeah." Deidara's smug voice easily reached their ears. "Where is your assignment, hmm?"

"The Avatar still remains. He is not worth our time." Itachi's voice still felt calm after the roar of laughter in the cave.

"You fing shead." Hidan's diction was all too familiar. "I could have done the fing job in half the time you pies did it. S. Jashin spits on you."

"Yeah, Itachi." Kakuzu uttered with his back hunched. "How can you, an S-rank criminal get beaten by a bunch of kids not worth a combined ryo?"

"Maybe he's a coward." Sasori's voice was concealed in his battle puppet, Hiruko.

"No, Itachi failed this mission because he hesitated." The leader's voice commanded silence in all of them.

"Did you know why we sent you to capture the Avatar?" Itachi stood still for a moment. Kisame wasn't the one to talk during these situations.

"We were asked to capture the Avatar to test the statue and see if we could successfully harvest the Avatar spirit."

"Yes, and do you know why we sent you and Kisame?" Kisame would have responded but Itachi silenced him with a glare. "This was obviously a test for us and our abilities."

"No, your abilities are not in question. It is your hesitance." The Leader's eyes began to look sharper. "Kisame. You were so set on battling an opponent that you forgot the goal in front of your eyes. And speaking of eyes." The Leader looked straight at Itachi. "What's the point of earning those if you don't use them?"

"I didn't feel the need to. By the time we capture the Shikaku, we will know the result."

"Just send us back." Kisame finally spoke, out of Itachi's will. "We can take care of them easy."

"Are you a complete idiot" Deidara wanted to take a shot at them. "You know the Cross Dimension Jutsu requires at least a week to work. Hmm"

"The Jutsu requires one full day of our chakra to open, another day of our chakra to open another portal and once everyone's rested, you can go after we make thousands upon thousands of hand signs." Sasori's voice got a bit sore after the long explanation.

"Even if we possessed the chakra," The Leader's voice began, "The chances to finding the right dimension will have already past. You would emerge in a different place now."

Everyone stood in silence for a while now until Itachi said, "So, what do you plant to do with us? Do you plan to banish us or kill us?" His eyes glow a bright red.

"No, if I punish you, you will rebel against us. And we don't need another rebellion. Instead, I will hold both of you in contempt. From now on, you're no better than foot soldiers. Now leave. We have much to discuss."

Itachi and Kisame left from the meeting as the Shark man asked, "You seem awfully calm about this."

"Don't worry. We still have plenty of time to get back our reputation. After all, two years is still a long time."


End file.
